No evidence of Botswana training camps

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=13476

March 15, 2009

By Tanonoka Joseph Whande

GABORONE - Botswana's Foreign Affairs Minister says no evidence of terrorist
training camps has been presented to the authorities in Gaborone to support
allegations made last year by President Mugabe's government.

Phandu Skelemani said the allegations of so-called camps where saboteurs
were receiving training to distabilise Zimbabwe were nothing but "distorted,
manufactured and generalized accusations which were not backed by tangible
facts".

The allegations were made during the Extra-Ordinary Summit of the Organ
Troika of SADC Heads of State and Government on October 27, 2008, in Harare.
The SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation then mandated
an investigation to be conducted, a report of which would then be submitted
to the Ministerial Committee of the Organ.

"To the best of my knowledge, the team completed its investigations both in
Zimbabwe and Botswana late in December 2008," said Ms Leefa Penehupifo
Martin, speaking on behalf of SADC's Executive Secretary Tomaz Salomão. "I
am not sure it has reported back to the commissioning authority that is the
Ministerial Committee of the Organ Troika. As such, we have no clue of the
content of their findings."

Asked what SADC itself had to say since there were still people being
incarcerated or prosecuted in Zimbabwe on charges relating to terrorism
training in Botswana, she responded, "We are not privy to the evidence nor
to the incarcerations you are alleging."

Dozens of people were abducted for having been involved in such training or
of assisting such trainees. They included human rights activist Jestina
Mukoko and former Tsvangirai aide Gandhi Mudzingwa. While the majority were
granted bail two weeks ago a few are still being held, some in unknown
locations.

Andrew Makoni, a lawyer for some of the abductees told reporters in Harare
on Thursday that from October 2008, when the abductions started, to December
at least 31 people had been kidnapped.

"Twenty-two, including a two-year old baby, have now been accounted for but
the whereabouts of the others are still unknown," he said.

He said it was no longer known if the missing were still in police custody
or had disappeared completely.

Skelemani told The Zimbabwe Times Friday that Zimbabwe's accusations had
been put to Botswana for her response.

"Botswana totally rejects the unsubstantiated allegations which were made
and are clearly nothing more than an exercise to engage in acts of
intimidation and harassment of the innocent people of Zimbabwe," he said.
"The Zimbabwean authorities will do themselves good by releasing those
people."

Asked when the investigation would close and if Botswana would be happy to
let the accusation die without publicly addressing the accusations levelled
against the country by Zimbabwe, the minister said, "That is for the SADC
Organ Troika to determine as they were tasked to investigate the matter.
Botswana awaits the feedback from the SADC Organ Troika on this matter.

"We have expressed our concern about the undue delay in determining this
issue."

Skelemani went on to say that, generally speaking, Botswana's position on
Zimbabwe had not changed. He said it remained the official position of the
government of Botswana that, in the event of the Global Political Agreement
being rendered unworkable, a re-run of the presidential election should be
held under international supervision.

Three days ago, Botswana President Ian Khama told the Financial Times that
Botswana had not always agreed to "this sharing of power", just like they
didn't agree to the Kenyan model either because they felt that what should
be done on the continent was to ensure that credible elections were always
held.

"This power-sharing thing is a bad precedent for the continent," Khama said.

Asked to state Botswana's official view on Zimbabwe's Government of National
Unity and whether satisfactory progress was being achieved, Skelemani said:
"The inclusive government formed in Zimbabwe has, to some degree, addressed
the crisis of legitimacy in that country and this is a welcome development.

"Botswana had hoped that all the parties in government would seize this
opportunity and genuinely work towards the rehabilitation and reconstruction
of the country's economy. Regrettably, some elements in government, notably,
Zanu-PF, continue to encourage and engage in irresponsible acts and make
provocative statements which are likely to discourage the international
community from extending a helping hand to Zimbabwe for the benefit of its
long suffering people."

At the SADC Secretariat Martin said, "At the risk of sounding banal, I wish
to state for a fact that the Zimbabwe government of national unity was only
inaugurated on February 13, 2009, which is less than a month today and, in
my opinion, it is exceptionally too short a period by any measure to assess
anything less complex, let alone a government of national unity."

Early last week, Zimbabwe's Minister of Social Welfare, Pauline Mpariwa,
officially opened the Plumtree Reception and Support Centre, the second of
its kind which has been established in Zimbabwe by the International
Organisation on Migration (IOM) to provide humanitarian assistance to
irregular (illegal) Zimbabwean migrants being deported back home. The first
centre was established in Chiredzi.

"We look at the centre as an important facility which will help in the
documentation of returnees and therefore should provide data as maybe
needed," said Botswana's Labour Minister, Lethlogonolo Siele, during the
opening ceremony.

Asked if the opening of this transit camp in Plumtree was an indication that
Botswana still expects continuing traffic of illegal migrants into the
country, Skelemani said: "The difficult economic conditions in Zimbabwe are
still there. As long as this remains the case, people will continue to cross
the border into Botswana to seek opportunities for a better livelihood."

Could he cite any issue in particular that Botswana was not happy about with
regard to the current situation surrounding the Zimbabwe government?

"Yes," said Skelemani, "the continued detention of MDC activists, which can
only serve to undermine implementation of the Global Political Agreement and
efforts to attract international goodwill and the much needed economic,
financial and technical assistance for the rehabilitation and reconstruction
of the economy of Zimbabwe."

"Zanu-PF should end unilateralism and create an atmosphere conducive to
building mutual trust and confidence as well as to live up to the spirit of
the Global Political Agreement, wherein the parties committed themselves to
bring an end to the polarization, divisions, conflict and intolerance which
have characterised Zimbabwean politics and society in the recent past.

"The continued detention of MDC activists is a sign of bad faith on the part
of Zanu-PF."

Farm invasions, violence could soil IMF report on Zim

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Clara Smith Monday 16 March 2009

HARARE - Ongoing farm invasions and a fresh outbreak of political violence
in the east of the country could dissuade a visiting International Monetary
Fund (IMF) delegation from producing a favourable report on Zimbabwe,
analysts told ZimOnline.

An IMF team arrived in Harare last week for consultations with Zimbabwe's
new unity government on the country's economic situation and prospects as
well as efforts to address a deepening humanitarian crisis.

The IMF withdrew support to Zimbabwe in 1999 following differences with
President Robert Mugabe over fiscal policy and other governance issues.

Restoring ties with the IMF is critical for the unity government to convince
skeptical Western nations to provide much needed financial assistance and
other support.

But independent economic consultant John Robertson said the violent
invasions of the few remaining white-owned commercial farms by top officials
of Mugabe's ZANU PF party would dent efforts to present a new and positive
image of Zimbabwe to the IMF and watching foreign investors.

"The message this sends out is that President Mugabe is still supportive of
the criminal and lawless behaviour of his officials who want to loot and
grab," said Robertson.

He added: "Investors will continue to see us as a lawless country which has
no respect for property rights and the rule of law. The IMF has benchmarks
and demands certain behaviour in exchange for its money. The invasions are a
classic way of showing that nothing has changed despite the all inclusive
government being in place."

Mugabe and his long time rival Morgan Tsvangirai last month formed a
power-sharing government to tackle Zimbabwe's economic and humanitarian
crisis.

Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of the unity administration, has promised to
restore relations with Western countries, the IMF and other international
institutions while Mugabe used the burial of a former military general at
the weekend to denounce lawlessness and political violence that strained
relations with the international community.

But farm invasions have continued across the country, while the Attorney
General's office is pressing ahead with the prosecution of more 100 white
farmers for refusing to give up their land to top ZANU PF officials and
members of the security forces.

"The arrests and invasions are continuing on a daily basis," Trevor Gifford
president of the mainly white Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) told ZimOnline.

The CFU leader narrated how one farmer, Johaness Nel, from the district of
Gutu was last Friday assaulted by a group of ZANU PF supporters and then
bundled onto a truck and driven for about 70km from his farm, dropped there
and told never to set foot on his property again.

Gifford - who said the CFU was keeping the IMF team informed of farm
attacks - said: "Nel was badly assaulted and needed medical attention, yet a
magistrate on Friday went ahead to issue a warrant of arrest against him for
refusing to vacate the farm.

"All his property is still at the farm which has been occupied by ZANU PF
supporters. More than 100 farmers are being prosecuted and the police have
refused to take action against ZANU PF people attacking farmers."

In another high profile case top ZANU PF official and President of Zimbabwe's
Senate, Edina Madzongwe about two weeks ago ordered a white farmer to vacate
his farm because she wanted to take over the property.

As farm evictions continued Tsvangirai's MDC party reported at the weekend
that ZANU PF militants burned down several houses belonging to MDC members
in Manicaland province, in a fresh outbreak of violence that will cast
further doubt on the new unity government's ability to stamp out
lawlessness.

However Economic Planning Minister Elton Mangoma, who met the IMF delegation
last Tuesday, played down the latest disturbances, saying that the IMF team
had not even raised the issue of farm invasions during its discussions with
him.

Mangoma, who is current chairman of a joint monitoring and implementation
committee (JOMIC) set up by the political parties to monitor implementation
of the power-sharing agreement, said the government was moving to stop farm
invasions.

He said: "The IMF has not raised the issue with us. The cases of the
invasions are decreasing and speaking both as a government minister and as
JOMIC chairperson, I would say the issue is actually being sorted out. We
are sorting it out."

The head of the IMF team, Vitaliy Kramarenko, was not immediately available
for comment on the matter.

The IMF's director for Africa, Antoinette Sayeh, last week told the media
that the Bretton Woods institution would not provide financial support to
Zimbabwe as yet because the southern African country needed to first clear
its arrears with the Fund before new assistance could be advanced.

Once a model African economy, Zimbabwe is suffering a debilitating economic
and humanitarian crisis that is highlighted by the world's highest inflation
rate of more than 231 million percent, acute shortages of food and basic
commodities.

Western governments, whose support is key to any programme to revive
Zimbabwe's comatose economy, have said they would not provide aid to the
southern African country until there is evidence the unity government is
committed to implementing genuine political and economic reform. - ZimOnline

Remittances from African diaspora dry up in global recession

http://www.businessday.co.za

16 March 2009

Dianna Games

REPORTS are starting to creep into the African media about how thousands of
families may no longer be able to feed themselves, pay school fees or build
houses because of a dwindling flow of money from western countries that has
been helping to keep Africa afloat.

No, it is not aid we are talking about here but money generated by Africans
for Africans. Remittances, worth billions of dollars a year to the
continent, are starting to decline as Africans working in western markets
start to feel the pinch of the global financial crisis.

A recent World Bank report said remittance inflows to developing countries
could fall by anything between 1% and 6% this year from last year , which
would have a marked effect on communities in Africa. The report suggests
that shrinking economies will also lead to anti- immigrant hostility,
further affecting the employment of foreigners in western countries.

The figures of what developing countries gain from remittances are
staggering. The Bank says that in 2005 remittances to developing countries,
dominated by flows to China, India and Mexico, totalled $188bn - twice the
amount of aid to these countries.

The figures for Africa are relatively small but rising rapidly, reaching
anything from $20bn to $40bn in 2007, depending on whose figures you
believe. In sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria has traditionally been the biggest
recipient (officially $3,3bn in 2007), followed by Kenya ($1,3bn) and
Senegal ($900m). It is generally accepted that the real amounts are at least
double official figures because so much of the money moves through informal
channels .

The money has given poor economies a boost, providing funds for food and
services, start-up business capital, education and other essentials
governments have failed to provide. It has created the impression, in some
cases, that governments are doing a better job than they actually are.

Zimbabwe is a classic example. Remittances last year were estimated at
anything up to US$1bn, supporting more than half of all households. While
the government claimed credit for the economy's survival, remittance money
was key to keeping Zimbabweans going and feeding critical foreign exchange
into the moribund economy.

A familiar pattern is evident in many other countries, such as Somalia,
Eritrea and Liberia . Even African success stories, such as Ghana, are still
benefiting from remittances, as their nationals continue to live abroad
despite improvements back home.

A recent trend has Africans in the diaspora investing their money back home
in property and businesses, with a view to returning one day, rather than
just providing a cushion for extended families. In Senegal , officials
maintain that the current housing boom is funded to the tune of 30% by
diaspora money.

However, many of the countries high on Africa's remittances recipient list
rate poorly on the United Nations Human Development Index, suggesting that
remittance inflows have not generally promoted sustainable economic growth.
Most remittance money is used for consumption spending and has, in some
instances, discouraged recipients from getting jobs or creating businesses.
For every success story, there are other stories of families exploiting
their remittances to live a lifestyle they could not otherwise afford. Large
numbers of people in Africa surviving on one person's contribution from
abroad also suggest the money is too widely dispersed to be of real
long-term value.

Governments are looking for ways to capture these dispersed funds for
development. Kenya, for example, is putting together a policy in this
regard, while diaspora bonds have also been mooted. However, the mistrust of
the state by many Africans, particularly those who have left because of
their governments, means they are reluctant to let officialdom tap into
their hard-earned money.

Despite the potential, remittance money tends to keep economies ticking over
rather than helping them to move them to the next level. It is often said
that African countries do not need more money, they just need to use what
they have more efficiently. Never has it been more urgent for this to
happen.

Games is director of Africa @ Work, a research and consulting company.

MDC demands review of 'national hero' status conferment

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/

By Lebo Nkatazo
Posted to the web: 15/03/2009 22:36:41
THE Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has called for an overhaul of the
system for conferring 'national hero' status, igniting an old debate over
who qualifies for the recognition.
The MDC proposed "an inclusive national policy with set parameters and
clearly defined yardsticks" to determine who qualifies to be a national
hero.

The MDC, which is in a ruling coalition with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu
PF party, clarified that its call was unconnected to the burial of retired
army general Vitalis Zvinavashe at the National Heroes Acre last Saturday.

"Zvinavashe is a gallant son who has served his country selflessly as a
freedom fighter, a service chief and a Member of Parliament," the MDC said.

But the party said it was "erroneous to believe that only politicians
qualify to be national heroes". The party also called for the recognition of
living 'national heroes'.

The party said: "Zimbabweans have produced the best minds in business, in
sport, in music and in the arts in general. The MDC equally believes that
one does not need to be dead to be appreciated in the country of their
birth. Acknowledging talent and celebrating it is the hallmark of
progressive and civilised societies."

Zanu PF's decision making body, the politburo, sits and decides who
qualifies to be a national hero. The status is usually conferred on dead
veterans of the 1970's liberation war who are given state funerals at the
National Heroes Acre in Harare. Widows of the 'national heroes' receive
state benefits right until their death.

The conferment has drawn fire in the past after some eminent liberation war
veterans like Ndabaningi Sithole and Lookout Masuku were overlooked for the
honour, both having fallen out with President Robert Mugabe.

The MDC said: "Neither the MDC national executive nor the Zanu PF politburo
has any unilateral right to determine who is a hero and who is not.

"Hero status must be conferred by an all-stakeholders' body with no single
subjective interest in the conferment of such national status on any
individual."

Starvation, drugs and prostitution: the miserable fate of Mugabe's orphans

http://www.timesonline.co.uk

March 16, 2009

The 'lost generation' is struggling to survive in South Africa
Jonathan Clayton
As night falls they slowly emerge from the shadows - dozens of children,
clothed in rags with desperate eyes sunk deep into haunted faces, suddenly
crowd the streets of Musina, a ramshackle town on the border between South
Africa and Zimbabwe.

Boys and girls as young as 8 crawl out of rubbish-strewn pipes and filthy
flood drains. Some come from human "nests", carefully built within the thick
foliage of wild hedges. Others appear from the bottom of dank alleyways, and
still more from the crevices of abandoned buildings.

Night brings some respite for Zimbabwe's "lost generation", thousands of
children who escaped hunger, poverty and disease in their homeland in search
of a better life in South Africa, Instead, they find themselves unwanted and
hunted. For a few hours they can beg and scavenge for food largely out of
sight of the police, who arrest and deport them during the day. They rummage
through overflowing bins, licking the inside of cans and plastic yoghurt
pots and gnawing on jettisoned takeaways.

"Once they are on the streets their characters start to change. They meet
others and start sniffing, prostituting themselves, stealing," Pastor
Forster Kwangwari, of Concerned Zimbabwe, an organisation trying to take the
children off the streets, said. "The sheer numbers overwhelm us - the crisis
has stolen our country's future and is creating a generation of feral kids."

Near by, from dimly lit doorways young girls gesture confidently at passing
motorists who know sex with minors is cheap - 30p for unprotected
intercourse, half that if a condom is worn. HIV infection rates are among
the highest in the world here but the girls are seemingly indifferent to the
risks.
Sophia Mbazana, 14, has a girl's face but is old beyond her years. She came
to Musina with her 17-year-old sister, No Matter, three months ago. Their
parents died in quick succession two years ago and their elder sister could
no longer provide for them as well as her own children - a common story.

"We were hungry and came here to find food, we make money from begging,"
Sophia said, as she sniffed glue from a plastic bottle. With darting eyes,
she tells how she was arrested but ran away from the police when they took
her to the border for deportation. Now, she is planning to move on to
Johannesburg or Pretoria. "I am just waiting to get some money for
transport," she explains.

Aid workers say that that is when she will most likely vanish. "Many of the
girls just disappear. They are here one day and then gone the next. They are
more easily absorbed than the boys - perhaps as domestics, sex slaves or
trafficked," Sara Hjalmarson, of the medical charity Médecins sans
Frontières (Doctors without Borders), said. "We don't know but we fear the
worst."

It is a testimony to the severity of life in Zimbabwe that, despite the
hardships and abuse they suffer, few of the children or adults who cross the
Limpopo River marking the border want to go back. Zimbabwe's health,
education and agriculture sectors have all collapsed and hunger stalks the
land.

But Zimbabweans are not welcome. South Africa refuses to grant them refugee
status, largely for political reasons. Consequently, for those who make the
journey - during which they are often attacked by gangs of thugs on both
sides of the border - life is almost as hard, and much more dangerous, than
back home.

With neither asylum nor refugee status, they are illegal immigrants subject
to arrest and deportation, which leads to further harassment and
discrimination. Children, many orphaned by Aids, suffer most as families are
separated and relatives scattered across the region.

South Africa, blinded by the status of Robert Mugabe as a liberation hero to
the mess over the border, considers Zimbabwean asylum seekers "voluntary"
economic migrants on the lookout for a cushy life. It argues that if

they make life too comfortable many more will come. Last week the
authorities closed a squatter camp in Musina, saying that it had become an
unhygienic eyesore, but provided no alternative. More than 4,000
camp-dwellers took to the bush rather than risk being arrested and deported.

The camp's closure infuriated international and local agencies. "We are
shocked with this decision...MSF once again calls upon the Government of
South Africa to stop deportations and provide immediate, adequate
humanitarian assistance for Zimbabweans seeking refuge in the country,"
Rachel Cohen, the charity's head of mission in South Africa, said. Aid
agencies such as Save the Children Fund, which tried to provide
alternatives, were also quickly told that it was against local by-laws to
erect structures such as tents that would give the appearance of a camp. If
they failed to comply with regulations they would have licences to operate
in the area revoked.

In their defence, local government officials say they are overwhelmed by the
sheer number of migrants and that they must give priority to their own
people. Musina is a small town with a small budget and, without help from
the federal Government, cannot cope with such a huge influx. That help is
unlikely to be forthcoming. The country faces an election in April and, with
xenophobia still running high after anti-foreigner riots last year in which
dozens were killed, there are few votes in being soft on Zimbabweans.

Officially, there are about one million Zimbabweans taking refuge in the
country, but the unofficial figure is believed to be three times higher.
Between July and December 2008, about 35,000 Zimbabwean asylum seekers were
processed by immigration officials in Musina. Of these, only 40 were granted
asylum, but few if any returned to Zimbabwe.

Refugee status

4 million approximate number of Zimbabweans who have left the country,
although exact figures are impossible to ascertain

3 million in South Africa

700,000 believed to be living in Britain

165,000 Zimbabweans deported from South Africa 2007

40 per cent probable Aids rate in refugee camps

202,000 is capacity of the refugee camps on the borders of Zimbabwe

4,000 deaths in Zimbabwe from the latest cholera outbreak, with 89,000 cases

Sources: International Organisation for Migration, UNHCR

Zimbabwe land grabs start again

http://www.thetimes.co.za

Moses Mudzwiti
Published:Mar 16, 2009

White farmers face intimidation, bribery and arrest

ZIMBABWE's few remaining white commercial farmers are living in terror as
pressure mounts for them to make way for new black landowners.

Under cover of darkness, hired thugs are being deployed in farming areas to
intimidate and hound farmers off their land, it is claimed.

a..
"It is purely racist," Trevor Gifford, president of the Commercial Farmers'
Union, told The Times at the weekend.

A decade ago, Zimbabwe had about 4 000 commercial farmers, nearly all of
them white. Today only 400 white farmers remain.

Gifford said he feared that the government was accelerating its efforts to
take over the remaining commercial farms.

This has happened despite a new unity government being sworn in last month.

"They want to remove all the white farmers from the land."

During his 85th birthday celebrations last month, President Robert Mugabe
said the remaining white farmers must "vacate" their land.

Mugabe has vowed that he will not compensate white farmers for the land.
They might be compensated - at less than 10 percent - for improvements on
the farms.

Mugabe says compensation for land must be shouldered by the country's former
colonial master, Britain.

In recent weeks, state land officials have "fast-tracked" the evictions,
Gifford said.

''We have a copy of a letter from the attorney-general instructing
magistrates and government land officers to clear the land for new owners."

He said eviction methods vary from intimidation to bribery.

The modus operandi remains the same: "new owners" arrive at a farm gate
accompanied by land department officials armed with "take-over documents".

In some instances, hired thugs are used to intimidate farmers.

The farmers' union said that white farmers would be arrested by the police
"for defending their properties".

Hermanus Grove, a commercial farmer in the Midlands area, said that for
several days a small group of hired thugs camped outside his Inogo ranch,
near Kwekwe.

"They told me they were here to take over the farm and a further bus load of
people will be following shortly," said Grove in an affidavit.

"They drank beer and feasted, and sang and chanted." He said that after a
few hours "the number had risen to about 40.

"They sat outside the fence shouting derogatory remarks and threats. They
came to the fence and [demanded entry].

"The gang caught my maize guard, stripped his clothing off, took his
ammunition and house keys, beat him, then proceeded to his house, chased
away his wife, unlocked the house, and took his shotgun."

Grove has been arrested but illness saved him from a certain jail term.

"I was released on bail and was due to appear in court the next day for
trial," said Grove.

Grove is expected back in court on Thursday. He will be opposing a
state-sponsored order to vacate his ranch.

It is claimed court officials have asked for US$25000 from Grove for the
case to "go away". The Commercial Farmers' Union is investigating the
allegation.

In Karoi, farmer Andrew Herbst was fast-tracked through the courts and
sentenced to six months' in prison , wholly suspended on condition that he
vacated his property within seven days.

Gifford said he was concerned at the speed at which farmers were being
convicted.

The latest land grabs have not escaped the attention of the new Prime
Minister, MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has strongly condemned them and
called for an end to the wanton lawlessness.

Last week, representatives of the Commercial Farmers' Union met officials of
the International Monetary Fund and presented a report on commercial farming
in Zimbabwe. The IMF delegation was assessing the country's economy ahead of
a possible resumption of financial assistance.

Gifford said the land grabs had so far targeted about 100 of the remaining
400 white commercial farmers.

DJ "Tich Mataz" arrested for alleged fraud

http://www.thezimbabwetimes.com/?p=13465

March 15, 2009

By Our Correspondent

HARARE - Flamboyant celebrity DJ, Tichafa "Tich Mataz" Matambanadzo, has
been held in police custody since Wednesday last week on allegations that he
defrauded the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

Matambanadzo, who played a pivotal role in promoting President Robert Mugabe
during the brutal campaign ahead of the controversial June 27 run-off
election, was arrested together with his business partner, Raymond Tendai
Chamba.

Matambanadzo and Chamba are currently being held at Harare Central Police
Station after he was picked up Wednesday by detectives from the Fraud
Section of the Criminal Investigation Department.

The police say Matambanadzo and Chamba - who are the directors of a private
company, Family Choice (Subvented Solutions) (Pvt) Limited, failed to supply
1 551 food hampers to the RBZ under the BACOSSI programme after allegedly
receiving payment in advance from the central bank. It is not clear why the
Reserve Bank made payment to Family Choice on November 3, 2008, for goods
that had not been delivered or how much the bank paid.

Police spokesman Inspector James Sabau explained that Matambanadzo had been
at large and that the RBZ had failed to locate him. The accused apparently
presented a morning programme daily on state radio during the period the
Reserve Bank claims he was at large.

Sabau said: "They received an advance payment for the hampers but they
failed to supply the goods and RBZ tried to locate them and failed. They
then reported the case to the police, leading to the arrests."

Matambanadzo's lawyer, Wellington Pasipanodya of Manase and Manase law firm,
said the arrest smacked of victimisation.

He further stated that Matambanadzo's company could not have continued to
supply the RBZ with products sourced outside the country in foreign exchange
when the RBZ insisted on paying for the goods in Zimbabwe dollars.

It is, however, now said that Matambanadzo might have been arrested after he
quizzed Youth Minister Saviour Kasukuwere on his radio programme about the
partisan distribution of funds meant for youths and about the extravagant
expenditure on President Robert Mugabe's 85th birthday bash.

On March 2 Kasukuwere went on air with Matambanadzo on FM 3 to discuss the
government's empowerment programmes. Kasukuwere was said to have been
furious after he was questioned by Matambanadzo.

Kasukuwere reportedly made it clear after the radio programme that he was
not amused by Matambanadzo's line of questioning which sources say he
described as patronising and casting aspersions on his office on national
radio.

Speaking during the National Youth Day, Kasukuwere made spirited denials on
national radio that there was partisan disbursement of money by his ministry
to youths.

Matambanadzo is said to have insisted that evidence existed to support
allegations that funds meant to bankroll the projects of all Zimbabwean
youths were being disbursed by his ministry only to Zanu-PF youths.

Matambanadzo is said to have laughed off claims by Kasukuwere that MDC
youths could also access cash from his ministry. Matambanadzo is said to
have told Kasukuwere that it was almost impossible for fair play in the
disbursement of funds, given that the minister was an ardent supporter of
Zanu-PF.

Matambanadzo himself was a central figure between April and June 2008 in the
campaign to promote Mugabe before his sole rival Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew
from the election, citing widespread and brutal violence against his
supporters by Zanu-PF militants.

Matambanadzo and ZTV Bulawayo bureau chief Makhosini Hlongwane were reported
to have been recruited by former Information Minister, Prof Jonathan Moyo,
to handle television and radio advertising for the Mugabe campaign.

"Ït is said that Matambanadzo negotiated the release from prison of his
jailed brother, Tendai, as part of the deal," a source told the Zimbabwe
Times in July 2008. Moyo did not respond to repeated questions seeking
clarification on his alleged role in masterminding Mugabe's election
campaign.

Banker Tendai Matambanadzo of Metropolitan Bank was a co-accused along with
Itai Marchi, a director in the Zanu-PF party, and Godfrey Dzvairo Zimbabwe's
then ambassador-designate to Mozambique, in a case of espionage that
initially involved businessman Phillip Chiyangwa back in 2005. All three
were accused of being part of a ring run by Chiyangwa, then a provincial
Zanu-PF party chairman. Charges against Chiyangwa himself were dropped after
he fell ill while in remand prison.

The arrest of Matambanadzo last week is said to have sent shock waves
throughout the Zanu-PF establishment.

Matambanadzo was deported from South Africa in 2001 after it was established
that he was in the country on fraudulent documentation. He had built a
following in Johannesburg as a celebrity DJ.

Subsequent attempts by Matambanadzo to return to South Africa, where he was
a DJ at a leading radio station 5 FM, were in vain.

Frustrated, said a source, he had tried to make money by doing business with
Zanu-PF and the central bank.

"He has been used and discarded," said the source.

Meanwhile, Matambanadzo's former partner, Hlongwane, a former reporter for
the state-controlled Zimbabwean Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), is now the
Member of Parliament for Mberengwa East, representing Zanu-PF.

Zimbabwe, Diamonds and the Wrong Side of History

Click here to read the interesting report

INTERVIEW: 'He is shaken by the accident itself'

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

Monday 16 March 2009

The driver of the truck that killed Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's wife
Susan, appeared in a Chivhu court last week, charged with culpable homicide.
Thirty-five year old Chinoona Mwanda drove the Nissan UD truck that hit
Tsvangirai's Land Cruiser. Human rights lawyer Chris Mhike will defend the
driver in court and speaks to Lance Guma about what is expected to be a high
profile case. Did the driver swerve to avoid a hump, or did he fall asleep
while driving? Is he suicidal as reported? Mhike gives the driver's side of
the story.

Interview broadcast 12 March 2009

Lance: The controversy over the tragic car crash which claimed the life of
Susan Tsvangirai continues to rage in and outside Zimbabwe. Meanwhile the
driver of the truck that was involved in that particular crash appeared in a
Chivhu court on Monday charged with culpable homicide. Thirty-five year old
Chinoona Mwanda was the driver of the Nissan UD truck that hit Tsvangirai's
Land Cruiser causing it to overturn 3 times and landing on its roof. Human
rights lawyer Chris Mhike has been hired to represent the driver and is
arguing that he was not to blame for the accident, blaming instead the poor
state of the road. Earlier this week I spoke to Chris Mhike who is defending
the driver and asked him what happened in court?

Mhike: The initial appearance in respect of the driver who was involved in a
road traffic accident with Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, which accident
unfortunately resulted in the death of his wife. Eh when we appeared before
this court, proceedings were designed to achieve at least 3 objectives. The
first being for the accused person to appear formally before a court of law
and be made aware of the exact charges that he is facing. So it was
therefore a first appearance. But because my client had also been in custody
since the date of the accident we also had to proceed to seek the
restoration of his liberty through a bail application.

So the appearance was also designed for the bail application to be made.
Then lastly it was a remand appearance, so that he would be remanded to a
further date to enable the state to finalize matters. So this is what
happened, we went ahead and made application for bail which was granted. The
application for bail succeeded and it was granted on the following
conditions.

Firstly that he should pay Z$100 re-valued and secondly that he should not
interfere with witnesses and thirdly that he should submit his passport with
the clerk of court at Chivhu Magistrates Court. And fourthly that he should
report twice in a week that is every Monday and every Friday at the nearest
police station where he resides. Then lastly that he resides, continues to
reside at his given address until the matter is finalized. In respect of the
remand his matter was remanded to 23rd March 2009 at which date we will hear
how far the state has gone with investigations.

Lance: And what are the exact charges that have been preferred on your
client?

Mhike: My client is facing charges of culpable homicide, that is the killing
of a person as a result of negligence.

Lance: Okay and how did he plead in this case?

Mhike: The first appearance normally does not go into the plea. He was
simply informed of the charge that he is facing without having to plead to
the charge. So we haven't reached that stage yet of him pleading. That will
follow subsequently at subsequent hearings.

Lance: Do you think Mr. Mhike the high profile nature of this case will
prejudice your client in the sense that it involves very prominent people?

Mhike: Eh well indeed, my client is a very ordinary person, a very ordinary
member of society who hitherto had not been subjected to or exposed to any
form of public appearances or public coverage. He is shaken firstly by the
accident itself. He is deeply distressed by the fact that he was involved in
this particular accident which resulted in a fatality and the injury of
persons. Then of course he is very alive to the fact that he was involved in
an accident where the Prime Minister and his wife and close persons were
involved. That also definitely weighs in heavily on him. It has dawned on
him that this has created a very prominent sort of case and he is still in a
daze. He is not used to this kind of exposure. I believe that after a little
while the dust will settle. He will get used to the idea that he will have
to face the public. Many members of the public are very angry as a result of
this accident. You will appreciate that the Prime Minister is a very popular
man and his wife who is now late was also a very popular figure in
Zimbabwean society. Therefore there is that recognition that there is a lot
of anger. We hope that with time, the tempers will calm a little and that we
can proceed with the matter without the matter being affected adversely by
the emotions and by the prominence of the personalities involved.

Lance: I don't know if you can maybe quickly help us clarify this
controversy. There is a lot of controversy surrounding whether he (driver)
hit a hump or a pothole and some MDC officials who visited the scene are
saying that particular stretch of the road does not have any potholes. What
have you been able to come up with there?

Mhike: Well I did visit the scene of the accident on Saturday the 7th of
March 2009 . I visited the scene again on Sunday the 8th of March and today
Monday the 9th March 2009. There is definitely a patch of the road where the
tar, the top layer of the tar did not stick properly with the immediate
bottom layer and that, a mound of tar was pushed forward and it solidified
on a particular section to create a hump. So I have noticed that it is not
level. That portion of the accident is not level. So there is, I would
confirm that I have personally observed a mound which one may describe as a
hump.

Lance: We also understand there is a female passenger or there was a female
passenger in Mr. Mwanda's truck who is confirming the same?

Mhike: Indeed, indeed, there was another passenger in Mr. Mwanda's car but
her testimony is yet to be produced. That is reserved for the trial stage of
the matter.

Lance: How worrying is it for you, Mr. Mhike, some reports are saying your
client is suicidal, is this true?

Mhike: Well, um what I can say is that he has been deeply distressed and
shaken by the accident which I believe is a normal reaction by most drivers
in the aftermath of an accident. Most drivers would be shaken and in that
sort of state but I would not say suicidal. I would say he has been
distressed and very shaken by the accident. I would say he is out of danger.
He has his brother and his wife and other family members around him now who
will monitor him closely and ensure that he does not get out of control. I
did point out to the magistrate that what in fact my client needs is not
incarceration but perhaps some counseling services. I trust that the
relatives of my client will take that up and ensure that he gets
professional assistance in dealing with this most unfortunate incident.

Lance: I keep saying final question, final question and this definitely is
my final question. There was some talk about him (driver) sleeping at the
wheel. Eh what has he said regarding this?

Mhike: Well I did put this issue to him that there were allegations or
reports that he had been sleeping on the wheel. He has flatly denied that
allegation. He insists that he was very alert and he was keeping a proper
lookout of the road. He maintains that the hump suddenly appeared. This
mound on the road suddenly appeared without any due notice, no warning signs
whatsoever prior to him hitting the hump and that any other driver probably
would have been destabilized. He maintains that after hitting that hump,
everything that happened thereafter was totally beyond his control. -
ZimOnline

On the destruction of Zimbabwean agriculture

http://www.politicsweb.co.za

Eddie Cross
15 March 2009

Eddie Cross writes on the catastrophic consequences of the still ongoing
land seizures in that country

We have had a superb wet season - at home I have recorded over 800
millimeters of rainfall - well above our average of about 600. In the north
the season has been drier - they are running at about 75 per cent of normal,
but the distribution of the rain has been so regular that many are saying
that they have record yields on the little they were able to plant. A
feature of this season is that the rivers have not flooded as in the past -
roaring raging tides of brown water, sweeping away all in their path.
Instead our rivers are generally clean and flowing normally.

The reason is that there are so few cattle - to raise cattle, you must have
security and following the farm invasions, no one has security. There is
simply no rule of law and all forms of livestock - especially the large
mammals, are vulnerable to theft. So the veldt is green and lush, grass up
to your shoulders almost everywhere. The winter fires are going to be
terrible because there is so much grass and there are no firebreaks. Who
builds firebreaks on land they do not own?

Even with the good rains I personally do not expect maize production to
reach more than 500 000 tonnes - about 25 per cent of what we need. We
already know that tobacco production is not going to exceed 35 000 tonnes -
about 15 per cent of what we grew in the past and even this is under threat
from the current wave of farm invasions.

The world is weary of our problems over land, I do not blame them, but that
does not in any way diminish the seriousness of what has and is happening to
our farmers. In the year 2000, our farming industry consisted of about 700
000 small scale farmers on nearly 20 million hectares. They grew 60 per cent
of our maize needs and about 85 per cent of the cotton plus a fair amount of
beans, groundnuts and sorghum. They supported a population of about 3,5
million people.

That same year we had about 5 500 large-scale commercial farmers, occupying
about 8 million hectares of land, employing 350 000 workers and providing
support for about 2 million people. These farmers were among the most
productive in the world. They supplied global markets with flue cured
tobacco - taking third place behind the United States and Brazil, they
produced 600 000 tonnes of sugar, half of it for export, 1 million tonnes of
maize, some of which was exported. In addition they sold over 400 000 head
of cattle annually, made the country self sufficient in milk, pig meat,
poultry and fruit of all kinds and supplied 8 per cent of Europe's imports
of horticultural produce.

In doing so, they generated half all export revenues and 60 per cent of
industrial activity and they did this without subsidy from the State. Some
25 per cent of these farmers were black and most farms employed black
managers. Their owners had purchased 83 per cent of all these farms after
independence in 1980 having first obtained certificates of 'No Interest'
from the State indicating that the land was not required for land reform.

Today, we have a handful of productive farms still operating - either under
their original owners or under those who have occupied them since the owners
were driven off their properties. At the start of this season I think we had
about 300 dairy farms, 200 tobacco growers and a small number of fruit and
horticultural producers. Instead of being net agricultural exporters, we now
import 80 per cent of our food and are the largest beneficiary of food aid
in the world. We export less tobacco than any other country in the region,
including Mozambique. Sugar production is down by 50 per cent and we are
importing sugar. We are also now importing milk, pig products and even
poultry.

Our once diversified and competitive industries are a broken, empty shell,
starved of raw materials and packaging and spare parts. Financially
insolvent, they cannot even borrow the money to restart their operations -
the banks have no resources to lend. The population in the small scale
farming areas has shrunk to about 2 million people and on commercial farms I
doubt if a quarter of the population remains.

Legally the owners of the large-scale farms have taken their case to the
Courts, not just in Zimbabwe but also in many other countries and have won.
The Courts have consistently stated that their rights have been violated,
they hold valid and legal title to the land they once farmed and that the
action taken to dispossess them was racially motivated and criminal in
intent. These same Courts have stated that unless the State pays the
original owners fair and reasonable compensation for the assets taken and
the losses sustained, the State cannot claim ownership.

The present farm invasions are even worse. The Zanu PF Party signed the
Global Political Agreement last year, in front of African leaders and is now
ignoring those clauses that state that the new inclusive government must
restore the rule of law and protect property rights. In fact it is the view
of those who negotiated the agreement that any farm invasions after the 15th
September are a violation of the agreement. Those who have planted crops
this past summer did so in the belief that they would be allowed to complete
the season and reap the results. Not so, by simply writing a letter, a
senior official can give anyone the right to invade a property, evict the
owner and take possession of the homestead, the crops, equipment and
livestock that have take a lifetime of hard work to establish.

If they defy the order, these farmers and their workers are then being
threatened with prosecution and imprisonment and Magistrates are 'fast
tracking' these and in many cases, imprisoning the farmers and their staff
for occupying their properties 'illegally'. We have good information that
Magistrates (not all of them) are taking payments from the Cabal that is
running this campaign in return for loyalty and fast action. The same
applies to the Police who are enforcing this programme. Officials who do not
comply with instructions are transferred or punished.

No amount of argument that 'the land was taken from us and all we are doing
is taking it back' will cut any ice with the Courts of law. Nearly all the
farmers affected are full citizens of Zimbabwe and have the right, under our
constitution, to demand protection for their assets and safety. Both have
been and are being denied and the fact that the great majority invested
after independence makes their case even stronger.

But put the law aside and even the financial aspects, outsiders know little
or nothing of the trauma that has been involved for the millions of people
displaced by the farm invasions. Many of my own friends who were farmers,
loved their farms and the way of life. They invested everything they made in
their farms and took little out. They have no pensions or external assets to
talk about. Many are now destitute or working at menial jobs in cities near
and far. Even now, many find it difficult to talk about what has happened to
them, their families and their staff.

The generosity of those countries, especially Britain and the USA, who have
made humanitarian assistance available to us to alleviate the problems
created by this man made disaster, is laudable. But it also makes it
possible for the people who did this to get away with it despite the
consequences. In times like these, justice is needed.

Eddie Cross is MP for Bulawayo South and the MDC's Policy Coordinator. This
article first appeared on his website www.eddiecross.africanherd.com March
15 2009

Living through Zimbabwe's darkest hour

http://www.newzimbabwe.com/blog/?p=478

Posted By Joram Nyathi on 15 Mar,
2009 at 3:47 pm

THE past week has been both tragic and edifying for me. Tragic because in a
space of four days, Zimbabwe lost two outstanding individuals albeit under
completely disparate circumstances.

Susan Tsvangirai died in a car accident, a victim of what can safely be
called the "human factor", while former Army Commander General Vitalis
Zvinavashe succumbed to natural causes.

It is often difficult in our polarised political environment to see a
commonality of purpose and mission between the two. Indeed, there are those
who would want to emphasise to us how impossible it is for a diehard Zanu PF
cadre and the wife of MDC-T leader to have anything in common. To such
people, the two are as different as day and night or good and evil. We must
be wary of such holier-than-thou distinction which seek to disjoin our
history between a past best forgotten and a present with no past but only a
utopian future.

To me, the two symbolically represent phases in a continuum in the struggle
for 's freedom - whether from colonial bondage, poverty or oppression.

Zvinavashe stands tall in the primary phase of the armed struggle while
Susan Tsvangirai was in the tertiary tier striving to actualise the nation's
dreams of political independence.

In the past few years, and especially the period since 1997, veterans of 's
liberation war have been cast in disparaging light, giving the impression
that our independence was not worth the sacrifice.

The wayward acts of a few have been magnified to denigrate all of them as a
violent lot who have betrayed the noble cause of those who perished in the
war. In short, the only good war veteran was the dead one. We flinch to
state what it was they died fighting for, just as much as our cynical youths
today sneer at the word "patriotism".

This is most regrettable. It points to national failure more than simple
cultural alienation among the youths; it points to disappointed hopes,
failed aspirations and frustration with a noble but badly-executed land
reform programme which went awfully wrong.

Opportunists with a vested interest have pounced with a vengeance. To them,
the only way forward is back to the pre-2000 racially-skewed property
ownership rights despite their clear negation of the principles of social
justice.

Today, as we mourn the passing on of Zvinavashe, we must reflect as a nation
on what our independence means. As we mourn Susan, we must ask whether human
rights and our dignity as a people would have been possible without
political independence.

The truth is that the political independence for which liberation heroes
such as Zvinavashe sacrificed so much has made it possible for the
succeeding generations like Susan to continue the fight from a higher plane.
And for that fight to be meaningful, it cannot be divorced from economic
independence.

It was therefore edifying to see our political leaders this week acting in
concert following Susan Tsvangirai's death. The MDC was quick to reciprocate
this gesture following news of Zvinavashe's death. Not only did the leaders
of both parties demonstrate maturity, they also thwarted Mark Anthony-type
mischief makers whose conspiracies about the cause of Susan's death flew
faster than the reality at the scene of the accident.

Both Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe were quick
to scotch the rumour of "assassination" and "perfect targets". This left the
"plotters" high and dry, for this had come as a perfect opportunity to kill
Tsvangirai's "sell-out deal" which produced the unity government. What
further proof did Tsvangirai and the MDC need to show that Zanu PF was not
sincere about the deal and that his very life was in danger? They must have
wondered.

A visit to the scene quickly embarrasses this assassination theory. Apart
from the deadly hump on the road, the stretch of the road is too open a veld
for anyone to plot such mischief. The deadly hump is just 40m away from busy
Mhondoro turnoff where people are either sitting there selling vegetables or
waiting for transport.

There is no doubt it was these vendors and wayfarers who were the first
eyewitnesses to the accident. Apparently despite their huge numbers and the
ubiquity of the cellphone, black MDC supporters in the area did not have
resources or could not be trusted to do a good job.

Instead, who were the "first" on the scene? White commercial farmers who had
been alerted by Eddie Cross who started "filming" and "climbing on the
vehicle" even before police arrived. They had the nerve to complain about
police "questioning" them.

Imagine what we would hear had a police officer or a soldier been "found" by
the farmers climbing on the vehicle and filming it to protect evidence!

As a colleague eloquently put it, "if only a military or government vehicle
had been involved in the accident, Mugabe would be finished". There would be
no need to investigate whether it was a "genuine accident". In the event,
the vehicle was engaged in USAID activities.

Despite his evident grief, statesmanship prevailed in Tsvangirai. Resisting
the herd instinct, he refused to indulge this dangerous recklessness. He was
able to look, even through tears, beyond the emotional response of party
supporters and focus towards the greater national good.

For me, grief and misfortune this week gave us a façade of unity so perfect
among our leaders it looked real. This demonstrates one thing: that with
sufficient desire, with determined leadership and a common purpose, we can
overcome our differences, real or imagined.

President Mugabe played the veritable father-figure. I wish he had been a
disinterested but concerned counsellor coming out of retirement to console
and stabilise a grief-stricken nation. It sounded insincere to hear him
counsel against political violence he is routinely accused of fomenting and
fanning. Age might just be a number but 85 years has a peculiarity about it
for one to keep indicating an interest to take part in to future elections.

Let me end with a few revealing comments from the late Susan Tsvangirai
about how she envisaged her role as 's First Lady. Most Zimbabweans, like
myself, never heard her speaking. She rarely spoke in public although she
always stood by her husband like his shadow, which is why she will be so
sorely missed.

In a rare interview published ahead of the 2002 presidential election, which
her husband Morgan controversially lost to Mugabe, Susan told the Sunday
Telegraph:

"There is a lot of work to do. I am looking forward to being not only the
mother of my own children but the mother of the nation as well."

Regarding the political violence which was going in the campaign, she
remarked prophetically: "Despite all the intimidation and the security,
there is no need to live in fear, because we are all going to die one day,
violently or otherwise. There is nothing any of us can do about that."

She is gone and there is nothing any one of us can do about it. She has been
taken away at the very hour when she should have begun her role as the
mother of the nation.

I can only pray that as a nation we have learnt a lesson from this grief:
the need for unity and a realisation that we share a destiny. Prime Minister
Tsvangirai needs our support in his hour of greatest need. It is 's darkest
hour.

*Joram Nyathi is deputy editor of the Zimbabwe Independent. He writes here
in his personal capacity

How different is new order from the old?

http://www.newzimbabwe.com

THE MUTUMWA MAWERE COLUMN

Posted to the web: 15/03/2009 20:30:41
THE untimely death of Susan Tsvangirai followed by the death of former
commander of Zimbabwe's military forces, Ret. Lt. General Vitalis
Zvinavashe, has demonstrated yet again that death can unite and has the
capacity to expose the meaninglessness of a life characterised by greed and
hatred.

It was, therefore, not unexpected that on Saturday, March 15, 2008, Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Prof. Arthur Mutambara
joined President Mugabe at the burial of the late Zvinavashe.

If anyone had any doubt about the commitment of the three to the inclusive
government project, the events of the last week have confirmed, albeit
superficially, that there is nothing impossible and inevitable in life.

Historians will no doubt have a field day in the future in trying to put
meaning to the significance of the inclusive government in advancing the
interests of a democratic constitutional order in post-colonial Zimbabwe.

Change is never easy, it is a process and typically unfolds in a manner that
can be recognised and predicted. Whether change in Zimbabwe can be
predictable is a question that time will only answer.

Zimbabweans have been yearning for change for a long time and it is evident
that expectation and reality are yet to be aligned despite the conciliatory
gestures coming from President Mugabe in the aftermath of the death of
Tsvangirai's wife.
A month has passed since the formation of the inclusive government and a lot
of developments have taken place to give an indication of the nature, driver
and direction of change.

President Mugabe remains in control and his worldview continues to inform
the policies of the government.

The Attorney General Johannes Tomana was sworn in on the same day as the
Prime Minister and his deputy.

The Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Gideon Gono remains in office
despite the known and presumably hollow protestations against the renewal of
his term.

Legally and constitutionally, executive power remains vested in President
Mugabe and this fact has been reaffirmed by the few key decisions made so
far notwithstanding the generally held view that change that is not
characterised by power sharing is not change that people can believe in.

President Mugabe through practice since the formation of the inclusive
government has shown that all that Constitutional Amendment 19 did was to
create a super minister and his deputies without any executive power.

More importantly, the defence chiefs cannot be expected to salute a super
minister as is widely believed. There are many Prime Ministers in the world
who have executive power but this is not the case in Zimbabwe, although
President Mugabe fully knows that without Tsvangirai on board he cannot cure
the legitimacy and credibility problem.

President Mugabe has been blamed for all that is wrong in Zimbabwe. However,
he is human like all of us and can only see what his two eyes allow him to
see and his ears can only hear what people with access feed into the ears.

It would not be far from the truth to describe President Mugabe as a
dignified prisoner. In a 24-hour day, a President unlike most of us has a
defined programme and can only see what the system wants him to see.

For 29 years, President Mugabe's life has been under surveillance and it is
instructive that he has never been involved in any car accident. When the
Prime Minister who has been slow in accepting the limits on personal freedom
imposed by his new role, decided with his late wife to drive to Buhera using
his private vehicle, we now all know what happened.

Some have observed that if the Prime Minister had decided to behave like all
other people in high state offices, the tragic accident could have been
avoided forgetting that the place and timing of death is unfortunately God's
prerogative.

The Prime Minister now has no choice but to join the club of prisoners. His
life and worldview will now be under the control of the same state actors
that have managed President Mugabe for the past 29 years. It is an accident
free life but a dangerous life for anyone who genuinely believes in change.

President Mugabe's knowledge of Zimbabwe is uniquely shaped by the people
around him and it may not be surprising that his opinion about the state of
the economy has not changed from what it was in 1979.

The fact that even on Saturday, he could confidently say: "Our fight with
the British is not yet over. Not a week passes without the British
parliament discussing Zimbabwe. They forget that we will never be a colony
again. What we want is partnership, we don't want to be subjugated, we don't
want masters. Those who want to be our friends and partners are welcome,"
goes a long way towards exposing his state of mind.

President Mugabe has been in power for 29 years and yet he can tell a
29-year-old Zimbabwean that there is an unfinished fight against the British
and not against hunger, disease and lack of opportunities.

Although one cannot deny the negative impact of the colonial legacy, the
stomach of this 29-year-old Zimbabwean will not be fed by a crop produced 29
years ago but by a crop produced today. The challenges of today require
appropriate responses of today.

President Mugabe may not be aware given the insulated environment that
Tsvangirai and Mutambara have now joined that the world is undergoing a
fundamental change. Billionaires of yesterday may not be billionaires
anymore. Big and once invisible institutions have and are collapsing every
day.

In the face of these changes, it would be wrong to look at the rear view
mirror and hold the view that Zimbabwe's condition is a direct consequence
of a conspiracy.

Zimbabwe can only sustainably avoid being a colony again if it can feed
itself and change its business model. President Mugabe has accepted that
sanctions are primarily the cause of the crisis and their removal ought to
be the starting point to moving the country forward. He has not accepted
that bad policies can lead to absurd outcomes. He has not accepted that any
of the wrong policies should and must be reversed.

Although the President talks of possible partnership with the West, it is
significant that such partnership must be on his terms. He wants sanctions
to be lifted against Zimbabwe and yet he would be the first one to say to
people like Roy Bennett and the other prisoners that the law must take its
course even if the laws relied upon are offensive to the democratic
constitutional order.

David Butau was arrested after the appointment as Finance Minister of Tendai
Biti, a lawyer, on allegations of externalisation and fraud involving a
scheme that was designed and executed by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. Many
of the democratic forces choose to be silent when the new government appears
seamlessly to assimilate the bad behaviour of government that was operating
on partisan grounds. How are the allegations against Butau reconciled with
the new dollarised environment?

We have also learned that Tich Mataz has also fallen victim to the
continuation of the absurdity. The difference between a company and its
shareholders continues to be the same notwithstanding the fact that new
players who should know better are in government.

People who were specified under the old order remain so even after the
formation of the unity government. President Mugabe has demonstrated that he
has no qualms about imposing targeted sanctions on his fellow citizens some
of whom had to go into exile and yet he has a problem when the West adopts
the same actions that his government has excelled in.

Naively, one would have expected that the inclusive government would make it
its agenda to remove the sanctions imposed by the old administration before
asking for the removal of targeted sanctions. There are laws that should
never exist in a democratic order that still remain on the statutes and more
importantly continue to be enforced by the inclusive government.

What is the danger that the inclusive government will eliminate the voice of
change and former foes can reconcile to the detriment of nation building? A
real risk does exist and if no corrective action is taken, it may not be far
fetched to conclude that the difference between the old and new order may be
the same.

Mutumwa Mawere's weekly column is published on New Zimbabwe.com every
Monday. You can contact him at: mmawere@global.co.za